MOST Science Museum Game Jam

At the MOST (Museum of Science and Technology) in August 2013, I developed and facilitated (with the assistance of other facilitators from the Game Designers' Guild) a non-digital game jam for Syracuse-area teenagers.  The MOST Game Jam was organized by the TED Center and funded by CNYWorks. 

I kicked off the event with a brief overview of the game design process.  In order to help the participants succeed, I had created a timeline of tasks to ensure that teams would have something playable by 3pm.  Participants were allowed to explore the musum and choose one of five pre-selected areas in which to work.

Here is a video I made at the half-way point of the day.

Throughout the day, a subject matter expert from the MOST and a game design facilitator worked with the teams to help keep them on schedule.  The goal for the team was to create a simple game-based activity that would fit as an exhibit in the museum.  The games had to feature some element of the career of a scientist, as one of the goals of the Game Jam was to raise awareness of different science careers.  The museum was open that day, so the teams were able to talk with museum visitors and have them playtest the games.  

At the end of the day, each team presented their ideas, and then the teams had a chance to play each others' games.